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2006_Senate_Campaign
2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. It is also the current year.
It has been designated:
Events
- January 1 - Russia cuts natural gas to Ukraine over a price dispute.
- January 2 - Fifteen are killed when the Bad Reichenhall ice rink roof in Germany collapses after heavy snowfall in the Bavarian Alps.
- January 3 - Twelve deceased coal miners and one survivor are discovered in the Sago Mine Disaster near Buckhannon, West Virginia in the United States.
- January 4 - Powers are transferred from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to his deputy, Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, after Sharon suffers a massive hemorrhagic stroke.
- January 5 - A hotel in Makkah, Saudi Arabia collapses killing 76 pilgrims visiting to perform hajj.
- January 6 - The record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season officially draws to a close as Tropical Storm Zeta dissipates.
- January 7 - Embroiled in multiple scandals, former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay announces he will not seek to reassume his former post. U.K. Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy resigns after revelations that he has a drinking problem.
- January 8 - A powerful, magnitude 6.9 earthquake epicentered off the coast of the Greek island of Kythera shakes much of Greece and is felt throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin. Only a few minor injuries and no significant damage were reported.
- January 9 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time since June 7, 2001 closing at 11,011.90.
- January 10 - At the Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple Computer introduces the first Macs with Intel processors: the iMac (Core Duo) and the MacBook Pro.
- January 11 - Augustine Volcano in Alaska erupts twice, marking its first major eruption since 1986.
- January 12 - A stampede during the Stoning of the devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 362 Muslim pilgrims.
- February 1 - UAL. Corp, United Airlines' parent company emerges from bankruptcy after being in such position since December 9, 2002, the longest such filing in history.
- February 6 - Stephen Harper is sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada.
- February 10 - The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin, Italy. The closing ceremony occurs on February 26. The next 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Whistler, Vancouver, Canada.
- February 11 - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots friend and lawyer Harry Whittington on a South Texas ranch.
- February 16 - Kobe Airport, a controversial offshore airport in Kobe, Japan, opens for airline service.
- February 17 - As many as eighteen hundred people die when a mudslide occurs on the island of Leyte in the Philippines.
- February 18 - NASA announces that they will redesign the planned Ares I that will include a five-segment version of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster, and a uprated version of the Apollo J-2 rocket engine.
- February 19 - Sixty-five miners become trapped underground after an explosion in Nueva Rosita, Mexico during the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster. There are no survivors.
- February 20-February 21 - Solidarity conference in Bil'in in the Palestinian West Bank.
- February 22 - A blast heavily damages the Al Askari Mosque, a Shiite holy site in Samarra, Iraq, causing a wave of protests and counterattacks across Iraq.
- February 22 - Over £53.1 million is stolen during the Securitas depot robbery, the largest ever cash robbery in the United Kingdom.
- February 22 - The one billionth song is purchased from Apple iTunes.
- February 23 - A roof collapses on a Moscow Market, killing 56 people.
- February 24 - A state of emergency is declared in the Philippines after an alleged coup d'etat against President Gloria Arroyo is foiled.
- February 25 - Six police officers, seven protesters, and a journalist receive head wounds when a protest prior to the Love Ulster parade turns into a major riot.
- February 25 - Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni wins 2nd re-election, sparking riots in Kampala by opposition supporters.
- February 26 - The world population reaches 6.5 billion at 0016 UTC according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
- March 2 - The U.S. Federal Reserve releases the redesigned ten dollar bill|$10 bill" target="_blank" >* into circulation.
- March 3 - The first World Baseball Classic opens in Tokyo, Japan.
- March 4 - The central Papeete power station is damaged by a fire, resulting in limited power for some areas of Tahiti for a couple of weeks.
- March 4 - A new species of shark is discovered in Mexico's Sea of Cortez, bringing the types of Mustelus shark found in the eastern North Pacific to five.
- March 4 - The Deep Space Network tries one final contact attempt to Pioneer 10.
- March 5 - Crash wins Best Picture, Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) wins Best Director, Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) wins Best Actress, and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) wins Best Actor during the 78th Academy Awards.
- March 7 - Fifteen people die and many others are injured in three blasts throughout Varanasi, India.
- March 9 - Microsoft unveils the Ultra-Mobile PC, formerly code-named "Origami Project".
- March 9 - NASA's Cassini-Huygens spacecraft discovers geysers of a liquid substance shooting from Saturn's moon Enceladus, signaling a possible presence of water.
- March 10 - NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters Mars orbit.
- March 11 - Slobodan Milošević, former Yugoslav president, dies of a heart attack in his prison cell in The Hague, Netherlands.
- March 11 - Michelle Bachelet is sworn in as the first female President of Chile.
- March 12 - Springfield, Illinois is hit with its biggest storm in over fifty years as a tornado outbreak sequence causes dozens of tornadoes to occur in Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois over a five-day period.
- March 15-March 26 - The 2006 Commonwealth Games take place in Melbourne, Australia.
- March 16 - The New Kitakyushu Airport opens in Japan.
- March 20 - Tropical Cyclone Larry makes landfall in Queensland, Australia as what is considered to be the worst cyclone to hit the region since 1931.
- March 22 - Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) declares a permanent ceasefire in their campaign for Basque independence from Spain.
- March 23 - The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ceases publication of the M3 monetary aggregate.
- March 25 - An estimated 500,000 people take to the streets in downtown Los Angeles in protest of a proposed federal crackdown on illegal immigration.
- March 25 - A revolutionary scramjet jet engine Hyshot III designed to fly at seven times the speed of sound is successfully tested at Woomera, South Australia.
- March 26 - The ban on smoking in public places such as bars and restaurants comes into effect in Scotland.
- March 30 - The first Brazilian astronaut, Marcos Pontes, goes to space in a Russian spaceship, Soyuz TMA-8, at 2:29:00 CET.
- March 30 - The al-Dana capsizes off the coast of Bahrain killing at least forty-eight people.
- April 5 - A swan with Avian Flu is discovered in Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland the first case in the United Kingdom.
- April 8 - The bodies of eight murdered men are found in Shedden, Ontario (see Shedden massacre).
- April 8 - Bristol, United Kingdom celebrates the 200th birthday of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (actually April 9) by relighting the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
- April 9 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is taken out of office after four months in a coma.
- April 10 - Romano Prodi narrowly defeats Silvio Berlusconi in Italian parliamentary elections.
- April 11 - ESA's Venus Express spaceprobe enters Venus's orbit.
- April 11 - President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirms that Iran had successfully produced a few grams of 3.5% low-enriched uranium.
- April 12 - Jurors in the trial of terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui hear cockpit recordings of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
- April 16 - HSH Albert II, Prince of Monaco, reaches the North Pole, becoming the first reigning monarch ever to do so.
- April 17 - Suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad in Tel Aviv kills nine people, injures dozens.
- April 17 - Raloxifene is found to be as effective as tamoxifen in preventing breast cancer, but with fewer side effects.
- April 18 - A record seven Venezuelan pitchers started games in Major League Baseball.
- April 18 - Centennial of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
- April 19 - Han Myung-sook became South Korea's first female Prime Minister.
- April 20 - Iran announces a uranium enrichment deal with Russia, involving a joint uranium enrichment firm on Russian soil. Nine days later Iran announced that it would not move all activity to Russia, thus leading to a de-facto termination of the deal.
- April 22 - War on Terror: Four Canadian soldiers are killed 75 kilometers north of Kandahar, Afghanistan by a roadside bomb planted by Taliban militants, the worst one-day combat loss for the Canadian army since the Korean War.
- April 23 - A 12-year old boy killed his mother and younger brother at their apartment complex in Forestville, Maryland.
- April 24 - Three explosions in a touristy section of Dahab, Egypt kill 30 and injure over 115.
- April 24 - Co-founder Scott McNealy steps down as chairman of Sun Microsystems.
- April 29 - Massive anti-war demonstrations and a march down Broadway in New York City mark the third year of war in Iraq. Also, the Global Night Commute takes place in over 130 cities around the world to promote the visibility of the Invisible Children in Uganda.